Muse of the Department

De Balzac Honore

Description

pubOne.info present you this new edition. On the skirts of Le Berry stands a town which, watered by the Loire, infallibly attracts the traveler's eye. Sancerre crowns the topmost height of a chain of hills, the last of the range that gives variety to the Nivernais. The Loire floods the flats at the foot of these slopes, leaving a yellow alluvium that is extremely fertile, excepting in those places where it has deluged them with sand and destroyed them forever, by one of those terrible risings which are also incidental to the Vistula- the Loire of the northern coast.

Informations

• Publié par: Pub One Info
• Date de parution: 06 novembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9782819935650
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE MUSE OF THE DEPARTMENT
By Honore De Balzac
Translated by James Waring
DEDICATION
To Monsieur le Comte Ferdinand de Gramont.
MY DEAR FERDINAND, — If the chances of the world ofliterature
— habent sua fata libelli — should allow theselines to be an
enduring record, that will still be but a trifle inreturn for the
trouble you have taken— you, the Hozier, the Cherin,the
King-at-Arms of these Studies of Life; you, to whomthe Navarreins,
Cadignans, Langeais, Blamont-Chauvrys, Chaulieus,Arthez,
Esgrignons, Mortsaufs, Valois— the hundred greatnames that form
the Aristocracy of the “Human Comedy” owe theirlordly mottoes and
ingenious armorial bearings. Indeed, "the Armorialof the Etudes,
devised by Ferdinand de Gramont, gentleman, " is acomplete manual
of French Heraldry, in which nothing is forgotten,not even the
arms of the Empire, and I shall preserve it as amonument of
friendship and of Benedictine patience. Whatprofound knowledge of
the old feudal spirit is to be seen in the motto ofthe
Beauseants, Pulchre sedens, melius agens ; inthat of the
Espards, Des partem leonis ; in that of theVandenesses, Ne se
vend . And what elegance in the thousand details ofthe learned
symbolism which will always show how far accuracyhas been carried
in my work, to which you, the poet, havecontributed.
Your old friend,
DE BALZAC.
THE MUSE OF THE DEPARTMENT
On the skirts of Le Berry stands a town which,watered by the Loire, infallibly attracts the traveler's eye.Sancerre crowns the topmost height of a chain of hills, the last ofthe range that gives variety to the Nivernais. The Loire floods theflats at the foot of these slopes, leaving a yellow alluvium thatis extremely fertile, excepting in those places where it hasdeluged them with sand and destroyed them forever, by one of thoseterrible risings which are also incidental to the Vistula— theLoire of the northern coast.
The hill on which the houses of Sancerre are groupedis so far from the river that the little river-port ofSaint-Thibault thrives on the life of Sancerre. There wine isshipped and oak staves are landed, with all the produce broughtfrom the upper and lower Loire. At the period when this storybegins the suspension bridges at Cosne and at Saint-Thibault werealready built. Travelers from Paris to Sancerre by the southernroad were no longer ferried across the river from Cosne toSaint-Thibault; and this of itself is enough to show that the greatcross-shuffle of 1830 was a thing of the past, for the House ofOrleans has always had a care for substantial improvements, thoughsomewhat after the fashion of a husband who makes his wife presentsout of her marriage portion.
Excepting that part of Sancerre which occupies thelittle plateau, the streets are more or less steep, and the town issurrounded by slopes known as the Great Ramparts, a name whichshows that they are the highroads of the place.
Outside the ramparts lies a belt of vineyards. Wineforms the chief industry and the most important trade of thecountry, which yields several vintages of high-class wine full ofaroma, and so nearly resembling the wines of Burgundy, that thevulgar palate is deceived. So Sancerre finds in the wineshops ofParis the quick market indispensable for liquor that will not keepfor more than seven or eight years. Below the town lie a fewvillages, Fontenoy and Saint-Satur, almost suburbs, reminding us bytheir situation of the smiling vineyards about Neuchatel inSwitzerland.
The town still bears much of its ancient aspect; thestreets are narrow and paved with pebbles carted up from the Loire.Some old houses are to be seen there. The citadel, a relic ofmilitary power and feudal times, stood one of the most terriblesieges of our religious wars, when French Calvinists far outdid theferocious Cameronians of Walter Scott's tales.
The town of Sancerre, rich in its greater past, butwidowed now of its military importance, is doomed to an even lessglorious future, for the course of trade lies on the right bank ofthe Loire. The sketch here given shows that Sancerre will be leftmore and more lonely in spite of the two bridges connecting it withCosne.
Sancerre, the pride of the left bank, numbers threethousand five hundred inhabitants at most, while at Cosne there arenow more than six thousand. Within half a century the part playedby these two towns standing opposite each other has been reversed.The advantage of situation, however, remains with the historictown, whence the view on every side is perfectly enchanting, wherethe air is deliciously pure, the vegetation splendid, and theresidents, in harmony with nature, are friendly souls, goodfellows, and devoid of Puritanism, though two-thirds of thepopulation are Calvinists. Under such conditions, though there arethe usual disadvantages of life in a small town, and each one livesunder the officious eye which makes private life almost a publicconcern, on the other hand, the spirit of township— a sort ofpatriotism, which cannot indeed take the place of a love of home—flourishes triumphantly.
Thus the town of Sancerre is exceedingly proud ofhaving given birth to one of the glories of modern medicine, HoraceBianchon, and to an author of secondary rank, Etienne Lousteau, oneof our most successful journalists. The district included under themunicipality of Sancerre, distressed at finding itself practicallyruled by seven or eight large landowners, the wire-pullers of theelections, tried to shake off the electoral yoke of a creed whichhad reduced it to a rotten borough. This little conspiracy, plottedby a handful of men whose vanity was provoked, failed through thejealousy which the elevation of one of them, as the inevitableresult, roused in the breasts of the others. This result showed theradical defect of the scheme, and the remedy then suggested was torally round a champion at the next election, in the person of oneof the two men who so gloriously represented Sancerre in Pariscircles.
This idea was extraordinarily advanced for theprovinces, for since 1830 the nomination of parochial dignitarieshas increased so greatly that real statesmen are becoming rareindeed in the lower chamber.
In point of fact, this plan, of very doubtfuloutcome, was hatched in the brain of the Superior Woman of theborough, dux femina fasti , but with a view to personalinterest. This idea was so widely rooted in this lady's past life,and so entirely comprehended her future prospects, that it canscarcely be understood without some sketch of her antecedentcareer.
Sancerre at that time could boast of a SuperiorWoman, long misprized indeed, but now, about 1836, enjoying apretty extensive local reputation. This, too, was the period atwhich two Sancerrois in Paris were attaining, each in his own line,to the highest degree of glory for one, and of fashion for theother. Etienne Lousteau, a writer in reviews, signed his name tocontributions to a paper that had eight thousand subscribers; andBianchon, already chief physician to a hospital, Officer of theLegion of Honor, and member of the Academy of Sciences, had justbeen made a professor.
If it were not that the word would to many readersseem to imply a degree of blame, it might be said that George Sandcreated Sandism , so true is it that, morally speaking, allgood has a reverse of evil. This leprosy of sentimentality wouldhave been charming. Still, Sandism has its good side, inthat the woman attacked by it bases her assumption of superiorityon feelings scorned; she is a blue-stocking of sentiment; and sheis rather less of a bore, love to some extent neutralizingliterature. The most conspicuous result of George Sand's celebritywas to elicit the fact that France has a perfectly enormous numberof superior women, who have, however, till now been so generous asto leave the field to the Marechal de Saxe's granddaughter.
The Superior Woman of Sancerre lived at La Baudraye,a town-house and country-house in one, within ten minutes of thetown, and in the village, or, if you will, the suburb ofSaint-Satur. The La Baudrayes of the present day have, as isfrequently the case, thrust themselves in, and are but a substitutefor those La Baudrayes whose name, glorious in the Crusades,figured in the chief events of the history of Le Berry.
The story must be told.
In the time of Louis XIV. a certain sheriff namedMilaud, whose forefathers had been furious Calvinists, wasconverted at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Toencourage this movement in one of the strong-holds of Calvinism,the King gave said Milaud a good appointment in the “Waters andForests, ” granted him arms and the title of Sire (or Lord) de laBaudraye, with the fief of the old and genuine La Baudrayes. Thedescendants of the famous Captain la Baudraye fell, sad to say,into one of the snares laid for heretics by the new decrees, andwere hanged— an unworthy deed of the great King's.
Under Louis XV. Milaud de la Baudraye, from being amere squire, was made Chevalier, and had influence enough to obtainfor his son a cornet's commission in the Musketeers. This officerperished at Fontenoy, leaving a child, to whom King Louis XVI.subsequently granted the privileges, by patent, of afarmer-general, in remembrance of his father's death on the fieldof battle.
This financier, a fashionable wit, great atcharades, capping verses, and posies to Chlora, lived in society,was a hanger-on to the Duc de Nivernais, and fancied himselfobliged to follow the nobility into exile; but he took care tocarry his money with him. Thus the rich emigre was able toassist more than one family of high rank.
In 1800, tired of hoping, and perhaps tired oflending, he returned to Sancerre, bought back La Baudraye out of afeeling of vanity and imaginary pride, quite intelligible in asheriff's grandson, though under the consulate his prospects werebut slender; all the more so, indeed, because the ex-farmer-generalhad small hopes of his heir's perpetuating the new race of LaBaudray